Double Chocolate Cake is another one of Rose's recipes which easily could be found behind a glass display in a favorite artisan bakery or on a restaurant menu. It is a simple combination of chocolate, cake and raspberries put together in such a way that makes it sublime.
Rather than making this is in a heart shaped pan for Valentine's Day, I made oversized cupcakes to give away. Spreading ganache on the bottom of the cupcakes proved difficult without the paper to hold them together. It seemed wiser to instead fill them a la Twinkie style with a Fun Frosting Gun, guaranteed to "make food decorating a pleasure". Some were filled with ganache, others with raspberry mousse and the rest whipping cream. The Fun Gun proved irresistable once I got the hang of it. The more ganache/filling, the less dry the cake. This isn't a cake that can stand on its own.
I was surprised how gorgeous and considerably tastier the raspberries became brushed with melted red current jam. It sweetened them considerably. The current jam proved harder to find and more expensive than raspberries. It's quite delicious, perfect for scones or biscuits.
The alkalized cocoa powder used in the batter was Valrhona bought at a local chocolate shop. Lindt has a new 50% dark chocolate which I wanted to try for the ganache. I liked it; being slighter sweeter than than 60-65%%.
I will make this cake again in a round pan, using a chop stick to poke holes big enough for the ganache to easily fill. Besides being a very pretty cake, the taste combination is fantastic.
Ganache, raspberry mousse and whipped cream.
Uh-oh! Better to leave the papers on.
Current jam brushed on the raspberries beforehand.
Just a few missing!
Lining up the ingredients, including Ginger Elizabeth'sVahrohna alkalized cocoa powder; amazing stuff!
cupcakes version is adorable! awesome Vicki! :)
ReplyDeleteI was on the fence and wanted to the cupcake, I was to chicken to do so, because I just could not figure out how to put the ganache on the top and bottom... but now, that I got your tip, next time I do this I will try for the cupcake version...
ReplyDeleteI agree with your the red current jam makes a whole lot of difference with the raspberries.
And oh, they look so cute!
Amazing looking! Vicki, I love how creative you are.
ReplyDeleteOoooh those cupcakes look delicious!! Good to see you used raspberry mousse as well as fresh raspberries :o) I agree that the cake on its own is just OK. I actually found it a tad dry.
ReplyDeleteAdorable, and perfect portion control!
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ButterYum
Your cupcakes look so good, I love chocolate and raspberries. Wish I could reach through the computer and take one!! Thanks for stopping by my blog and leaving a sweet comment.
ReplyDeleteI love that you make it as cupcakes. They look so pretty - love the different decorations.
ReplyDeleteI love your cupcake idea--they look delicious! Thank you for your kind comment on my blog last week. Great idea to fill them in the center--that makes sense. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting so quickly about the cupcakes! I was in two minds, and then your post made me realise that it was far less work to do a whole cake this week!!! Plus, frosting gun = one more lot of something to wash.
ReplyDeleteYour cupcakes look fab and portion control is definitely required for this cake.
Oh, I like the frosting gun idea--that might have kept the middle of my cupcakes from being dry. My ganache sure didn't soak in very far.
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